Edibles are all the rage and with good reason. A Canadian girl's take on a classic cookie recipe using homemade cannabutter, and what you want to know before baking (or consuming) your own edibles.
Chris
Oct 24, 2019
It’s the week of the #CanadaElection and after a disappointing evening recognizing that many voters aren’t paying attention to how corrupt and hypocritical our Federal Liberal party is, I thought it was a good time for a lighthearted blog talking about baking with cannabis.
If I hadn't been so absorbed in the many political topics that have been top of mind in this election period, I would have published this blog on the one-year anniversary of Canada legalizing marijuana (October 17). Alas, let’s take a break together and talk about the world of consuming your cannabis: how to get the best result, what you can expect from the high, and how much to take.
If you are new to consuming cannabis or using it topically, you need to know that “activating” your cannabis is a critical step. Activation of cannabis is done by the process of decarboxylation. This allows the psychoactive component of THC to be activated so that your delicious cookies also give you the euphoric feeling you are used to with smoking or vaping. Some experts note that if you are cooking your edibles, like the cookie recipe I share below, the decarb step can be skipped. I have always decarbed my plant material before making my butter or oil for my baked goods so I still recommend this step in the process. However, if you are looking for the benefits of cannabis without the psychoactive effect, skipping the decarb can give you those benefits without the high. If this is your intention, just make sure you aren’t activating your cannabis when you bake your cookies or brownies in the oven.
To decarboxylate your plant material, simply break it up into smaller pieces and line a baking sheet without having empty space on the pan or overlapping your flower material. I like to use the aluminum roasting pans covered with aluminum foil (we re-use them over and over). Bake in a pre-set oven to 250F for twenty minutes. Your material should be odorous and slightly brown in colour when you take it out.
The noticeable differences between smoking your cannabis and eating it is 1) it takes longer for the psychoactive effect to take place and 2) that effect lasts longer and can be stronger.
This has to do with how the cannabinoids are absorbed into the body. When you smoke cannabis, the tissue in the lungs absorbs THC almost immediately into the bloodstream. When you consume cannabis by mouth, this process takes longer because the medicated treat needs to be consumed and digested before the compounds reach the liver and enter the bloodstream. Absorption in fatty tissues means the compound is released more slowly producing a longer high and the possibility for “multiple peaks” in the psychoactive effect. This effect is stronger than smoking because when THC is metabolized by the liver it is converted into 11-hydroxy-THC which can more easily cross the blood-brain barrier resulting in that stronger high. The high usually sets in about forty-five minutes to an hour after consuming (depending on whether you ate previously) and in my experience, the first evidence is a dry mouth (although this could depend on your strain) followed by relief of your pain area.
My better half and I find cannacookies to be beneficial for pain relief (specifically for back and body pain). Because the effect lasts longer than smoking or vaping, it makes it a great treatment for this kind of discomfort to give you relief for hours (a blessing when you work on your feet all day). We also use this method in place of a social smoke or when we want to be more discrete about our cannabis consumption. Please be safe and responsible and do not operate heavy machinery including driving after consuming any amount of cannabis.
Another benefit to consuming cannacookies (or any kind of cannabis edibles) is that you avoid the damage done to lungs by smoking the plant (a risk with smoking anything). And who doesn’t love cookies? I looked for side effects or disadvantages to consuming cannabis orally but I found no risks exclusive to “eating” cannabis versus consuming in other forms other than the potential of taking too much due to impatience for the effects to take place.
A rookie mistake is consuming more of your “special” treat before the original dose has had time to impact your system.
Anecdote: One of the first times I ate pot cookies, I was with a buddy heading to Toronto to see Louis CK perform. We each ate a cookie on the commute and when I didn’t feel anything after thirty minutes I told my buddy I was going to eat another one. He wisely decided he was going to wait a little longer for the first cookie to kick in. By the time we were ordering a pre-show beverage at a pub, I was flying high. When we finally met up with friends at the theatre and took our seats, I got more than my money’s worth because I saw two Louis CKs all night (seeing double), followed by extreme exhaustion and a headache. This is why knowing your dose is so important. Additional unsavoury side effects of taking too large of a dose include paranoia, motor function diminishment, and hallucinations.
The safest and most comfortable way to consume cannabis is to be familiar with your “dose”. The dose is the amount of edible you should consume based on your own physiology and experience to get the desired outcome. It is not a fun game to consume too much cannabis and can be a huge waste of a day. The beauty of dosing is that you can take little bits at a time until you get the right feeling and benefits for you. In my cannacookie recipe, my dose is half a cookie. My better half takes a whole cookie. When newbies try my cookies I recommend a quarter of a cookie to start.
Your dose will depend on multiple factors including:
· The strain you used in your cannabutter or cannaoil
· Whether you decarbed your plant matter
· How much cannabutter or cannaoil is in your recipe
· The serving size of each cookie, brownie or candy and whether they were weighed exactly or serving size was eye-balled
· Your physiology (sex, body fat percentage)
· Your tolerance or experience with cannabis
If you use the tactic of decarboxylating your flower, starting with a small serving, and being patient and letting that dose take effect before consuming more, you will have a positive experience with dosing using edible cannabis goodies.
My go-to recipe is Chocolate Chip Cookies out of Joy of Cooking 75th Anniversary Edition where I simply replace one-half cup of regular butter with one-half cup of my cannabutter. After decarbing the flower, we infuse dairy butter with cannabis using a crockpot. This cooks for four hours before it is cooled and strained through a large strainer and then through cheesecloth. Once fully cooled, it can be used for any recipe that calls for butter (we often make cannabis-infused virgin coconut oil as well for other recipes and have recently experimented with cannabis-infused corn syrup and honey).
I make the cookies pretty small (for easy dosing) and get twenty-four cookies out of the recipe. Each “drop cookie” is roughly one- and one-half inch wide and high.
Take this Canadian girl’s recommendation and try these cannacookies next weekend. Just remember to prepare your cannabis by decarboxylating, that it will affect you differently than smoking or vaping, and be smart about your dose. Nibble responsibly!
CannaCookies
· Whisk together 1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour with ½ tsp baking soda in a bowl
· Beat in a large bowl until well blended ½ cup cannabutter, ½ cup white sugar, ½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
· Add 1 egg, ¼ tsp salt, and 1 ½ tsp vanilla to your butter sugar mixture
· Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients and add 1 cup chocolate chips
Drop dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper leaving roughly three inches between drops and bake in 350F preheated oven for 8 to 12 minutes (depending on your oven). Cookies should be just turning golden brown on the edges when done. Take out of the oven and leave to cool on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack. Properly label your cannacookies to avoid consumption by an unintended-party and keep out of reach of children.
Share your favourite canna-recipe in the comments.
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